Hungary's largest church, holding the mummified right hand of the king who converted the country.
It took fifty-four years to build, which is a long time even by cathedral standards, and the delay had a spectacular cause: the original dome collapsed in 1868, in a storm, before the building was finished, and they started that part again. It was finally consecrated in 1905.
The dome is 96 metres high, matching the Parliament exactly and referring to the same year, 896. The two buildings are the tallest in Budapest and by long convention nothing is built higher.
The Holy Right
In a chapel behind the main altar is the Szent Jobb — the mummified right hand of King Stephen I, who took the crown in 1000 and made Hungary a Christian kingdom. It has been venerated for the better part of a thousand years, was moved around Europe repeatedly, spent time in Bosnia and in Austria, and returned in 1945. It is displayed in a glass reliquary and lit by a coin-operated light, which is a very Central European arrangement.
The hand is carried through the streets each year on 20 August, St Stephen’s Day, which is Hungary’s national holiday and the biggest day in the city’s calendar.
The dome panorama
Go up. The gallery runs right around the outside of the dome and gives a 360-degree view — the Parliament and the river to the west, the roofs of Pest in every other direction, and Castle Hill across the water. It is a different and in some ways better view than the Fisherman’s Bastion, because you are standing inside the city rather than looking at it from outside.
There is a lift most of the way and a staircase for those who want it. The entrance to the panorama is separate from the church door and ticketed separately.
Concerts
The basilica runs an organ concert programme most evenings, and the acoustics are genuinely good. Tickets are sold on the square outside and online; the standard is variable but the setting is not. Entry to the nave itself asks for a donation rather than a fixed ticket.
More Landmarks
The Hungarian Parliament Building
The third-largest parliament building in the world, put up for a country that was about to lose two-thirds of its territory.
Fisherman's Bastion
A neo-Romanesque viewing terrace that has never defended anything, built purely so that Budapest could be looked at properly.
Széchenyi Chain Bridge
The first permanent bridge between Buda and Pest, and the thing that made them one city.